About Piersica
Piersica develops high-energy-density lithium-metal cells targeting 600–800 Wh/kg. We are a small, fast-moving R&D team taking novel cathode and cell architectures from the bench to multi-layer pouch cells and increasingly to large-format builds. The work is hands-on and chemistry-rich — formulations, process windows, and equipment evolve week to week.
The Role
We are hiring a single owner for the front half of our electrode line, responsible for four task areas end to end: (1) slurry formulation & prep, (2) tape casting & drying, (3) tape calendering, and (4) tape stamping. Today these functions are split and rotated across the team; we want one specialist who takes a cathode from dry powders to finished, stamped parts and owns the process parameters throughout. You'll spend your time at the mixer, coater, calender, and stamping station — not behind a desk. You will have intern support.
What You’ll Own
- Slurry formulation & prep. Build cathode slurries in NMP, DMF, and DMSO systems across shear, planetary, vacuum, and high-speed disperser platforms plus sonicators. Dial in solids loading and rheology, tune conductive and binder additive packages for percolation, adhesion, and processability, and produce CNT and GO dispersions from scratch. Manage shelf life and make last-minute viscosity adjustments at the coater.
- Tape casting & drying. Cast on lab-scale doctor-blade / tape-casting setups and our R2R slot-die coater. Set web tension, gap, line speed, and multi-zone drying parameters. Produce thick, high-loading cathodes (single-side >7.5 mAh/cm²) reliably and diagnose cracking, edge/stripe defects, and non-uniform thickness inside a narrow drying window.
- Tape calendering. Calender cast electrodes to target density and thickness, including high-density work to >3.5 g/mL, without compromising tape integrity.
- Tape stamping. Slit and die-cut (stamp) finished electrodes to clean, burr-free, dimensionally repeatable parts ready for cell builds.
- Cadence & process improvement. Run at least two casts per week, tightening the existing SOP while executing exploratory recipes in parallel — production and R&D happen on the same line, the same week. Support scale-up of small-cell processes (5- and 15-layer builds) toward large-format cells.
- Reporting & documentation. Narrate runs nearly live in Microsoft Teams — closer to a live stream than a weekly write-up — and keep runsheets clear enough that casting isn't a single point of failure.
Required Qualifications
- 5+ years hands-on in Li-ion / Li-metal electrode fabrication, owning slurry prep through finished electrode.
- Slurry formulation & prep. Experience across slurry mixing platforms including sonicators; fluency with NMP, DMF, and DMSO; deep understanding of conductive and binder additives; hands-on CNT and GO dispersion formulation. Strong practical grasp of slurry rheology.
- Tape casting & drying. R2R casting across multiple instruments, with slot-die experience required. Familiarity with comma-bar / reverse-comma and doctor-blade methods, web handling, tension control, and multi-zone drying. Demonstrated ability to coat single-side loadings >7.5 mAh/cm² and to troubleshoot defects within narrow process windows.
- Tape calendering. Hands-on high-density calendering to >3.5 g/mL.
- Tape stamping. Slitting and die-cutting to clean, repeatable tolerances.
- Track record of running production and exploratory work in parallel, and improving SOPs rather than just executing them.
- Willingness to document runs live in Microsoft Teams as they happen, not after the fact.
- Comfort in a small startup R&D environment where processes and equipment change frequently.
Preferred / Nice to Have
- Knowledge of dry casting / solvent-free electrode methods.
- Experience across multiple cathode chemistries and binder/solvent systems.
- Familiarity with electrode characterization (e.g., thickness/loading mapping, sheet-resistance/conductivity screening, basic SEM/EIS).
- Background in a startup or applied R&D lab rather than a high-volume production-only environment.
Why This Role
You won't be one cog on a giant line. You'll own a core capability, set the standard for how our cathodes are made, and see your work go into cells we test the same week. If you like building process — not just running someone else's — this is that seat.